


Nectar's Sweet Sting

by Capucine



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Allergies, Gen, Humor, Random & Short, Short One Shot, Slice of Life, ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-29
Updated: 2016-01-29
Packaged: 2018-05-17 02:14:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5849998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Capucine/pseuds/Capucine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint has a question for Bruce--and gets more of an answer than he bargained for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nectar's Sweet Sting

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a person I just met who has apparently got tons of awesome ideas for Hawkeye stuff! He's pretty cool (the dude I met--well, Hawkeye is too, of course, but yeah...).
> 
> Nothing scary here, though a small amount of cursing.

Clint was pretty sure that Bruce shouldn't be staring at him like he'd just said ducks were great as projectile weapons. Which, they could be, in the right circumstances, but--

"What did you just say?" Bruce asked, staring at him quizzically. Not like, I didn't hear you, but rather, I must have heard you wrong.

Clint popped more raspberries in his mouth, enjoying the juice and noticing the usual sting. "I said, raspberries are great and all, but why do they sting?"

"Sting?" Bruce repeated.

"Yeah, you know--kind of like oranges, but not as strong," Clint replied, wondering if he was using the wrong word--scientists could get technical, after all. Maybe there was a term he hadn't heard to describe the sensation. 

"Do you mean a tang?" Bruce asked, face crinkled in confusion. "Like, it tastes sort of sour but sweet?"

"Not taste, you know, the sting. The feeling. Why does it do that?" Clint helped himself to more raspberries. He'd kind of wondered at some point, but it was a small thing and it slipped his mind most of the time. It was one of those questions that sometimes popped up around scientists who might have an answer--such as if eyelashes had a different composition than scalp hair, or why banana flavoring didn't taste like banana (spoiler: it was based on a different kind of banana that died out).

Bruce just stared at him a moment longer. "And how would you describe this sting?" Bruce finally said, "Does it hurt? Like a bee sting?"

Okay, now Clint was just a bit disturbed. "Um, you know--just a small sting. Like...soda? But different. Uh...why do you need me to explain this?"

Did the whole Hulk thing change Bruce's senses or something crazy like that?

"So, not outright painful," Bruce said, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Not really..." Clint was still trying to figure out what the hell Bruce was thinking. "It's just raspberries--that's what they do. I just wanted to know why."

Bruce had a slightly amused look on his face. "Clint, raspberries don't sting. I think you're allergic."

Clint blinked. Then blinked again. "What?"

"Yeah. You're going to want to run some tests, because obviously it's not a deadly allergy, but it would be good to know how allergic you are. You said oranges also sting?"

Bruce was in full-on scientist mode.

And Clint was done with that. He stood, moving away from the table. "Yeah, uh, it doesn't bother me, so...Later."

And he quickly departed, despite Bruce calling after him to remind him that he should indeed check it out.

Clint certainly avoided raspberries for the next week--and pretty much all the fruits that gave a similar reaction. Partly because Bruce kept looking at him in the most annoying way every time he saw him eating them.

But soon enough, he was back to it. Forget that allergy bullshit--he was eating his favorite fruits, damnit.

And no one could stop him.

**Author's Note:**

> I have allergies like this, lol. It's so much fun!
> 
> (This is usually how I find out a 'normal' thing is not so normal, lol.)


End file.
